


A Good Ending

by afteriwake



Series: Simple As It Should Be [36]
Category: CSI: NY
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-18
Updated: 2012-09-18
Packaged: 2017-11-14 13:09:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/515563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's the last time he's going to see everyone and look good, and Lindsey wants him to make a good impression.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Good Ending

He held up two more ties. This had to have been the tenth time he'd done this. "Well?"

"The one on the left, maybe," Lindsay said. "But it's still not..."

He sighed. "Lindsay, it's just a dinner."

"Yeah, but you're the guest of honor. Don't you want to surprise everyone and have your tie actually match?"

He could hear what she was going to say next in his head even though she'd smiled at him and turned away. Because it wasn't like he was going to see them at work again the next day. She would; when he'd decided to leave the NYPD he'd made it absolutely clear that if she wanted to stay he would be just as supportive of that as she was of him leaving. But...he wouldn't. He wasn't a detective anymore.

She tilted her head a little. "Regrets?" she asked him quietly. While he'd been lost in his thoughts, she'd turned around and looked at him again.

He shook his head. "I'm trying my best to live a regret-free life."

She nodded slightly at his answer, then went back to getting dressed. Simple black dress with heels. She, apparently, didn't have as hard a time coming up with something for this impromptu dinner Stella had planned as he did. But as she pointed out, it was in his honor, so he should at least _look_ as though he hadn't spent his last day at work in a rumpled suit with a bad tie. He pulled out two more ties. "These?"

"That's it!"

"Which one?"

"The one on the right. Don, that's going to look _perfect_."

He looked at it and grinned. "And it'll make someone's day to see I'm finally wearing it."

\---

Everyone else was already in the back room of the Italian restaurant Stella had picked out. He looked around and felt a small pang of pain, knowing that the next day these guys would be back at work and he wouldn't be with them. He felt Lindsay squeeze his hand and he squeezed it back.

Stella stared at him. "I thought you said that tie was not you," she said skeptically.

"Yeah, well, I lied."

"It took you three years to wear it? Three _years_ , Flack? And you wear it on the last day I'll probably see you in a suit?" Stella shook her head, trying not to laugh. It was a light grey tie, with dark grey pinstripes on it. He was wearing a black suit and a shirt of the same dark grey color as the pinstripes. "See, I told you it'd look good on you when I gave it to you."

"Too bad I'm not going to be wearing ties much more," he said. "You were right."

"Have you figured out what you're going to do?" Hawkes asked as Flack and Lindsay seated themselves.

He shook his head. "Not really. Got offered a consultant job, though, but I'd like to try school first. Maybe." He glanced over at Lindsay, who had turned to talk to Maka. "Whatever happens, I'm staying in New York."

Hawkes looked over at Lindsay as well. "She wants to stay a cop."

"Yeah. She doesn't want to leave me, though, and I'm not going to take the job away from her." He shrugged slightly.

"It'll all work out, you know."

"Yeah, Hawkes, I know."

\---

He stood in front of the mirror Lindsay kept in their room once they got home and looked at himself. "She was right, you know."

"Who was?"

"Stella. I did look good, didn't I?"

"Yeah, you did." Lindsay slipped out of her heels and came over to him. "You're going to be okay, right?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine." He leaned over and kissed the side of her head. "We should have called it a night earlier. You still have to go to work in the morning."

"And deprive you of the party? I think not. Besides, I'm not all that tired, and it's still early," Lindsay said. She put his arms around his neck and held him, enjoying the closeness. Since he'd made his decision, she felt closer to him in some strange way; she'd have thought it would push them apart, but it hadn't.

She felt his hands on her shoulders before they slid down and settled on her waist. "You're really not all that tired tonight?" he asked quietly.

"Why?"

"Like you said, it's still early, and we're all dressed up. Maybe...you wanna go out or something? Not dinner, but...something?"

She looked up at him. "I'd love to."


End file.
